The DEMONSTRATION
PROJECT TO TEST BENEFITS BASED PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES ON RECREATION DELIVERY
SYSTEMS was the first national effort to implement a new recreation service
delivery philosophy and system that directly addresses social problems facing
society. This particular effort focused on addressing problems associated with
youth-at-risk. However, the benefits based programming (BBP) approach to recreation
services is a generic programming philosophy and strategy that can be used in
all recreation settings with all recreationists.

This two-year national
Project was the first critical step in establishing BBP as the new way of doing
business in the recreation profession.

The
five demonstration sites were:

Chicago, Illinois;

Fort Lauderdale,
Florida;

Prince Georges
County, Maryland;

Rock Hill, South
Carolina;

Seattle, Washington.

All programs were
required to involve multiple human service agencies and an evaluation scheme
that included both quantitative and qualitative information. Pre- and post-testing
was conducted at each site where the participants received the BBP program and
at a matched control site where the participants did not receive the BBP program.

The demonstration
programs at each site followed a specific planning model developed by the Project
Team. This model utilized the concept of resiliency as a framework for establishing
recreation programs and focused on building resiliency skills and attitudes
in each youth.

Other
areas that were evaluated for a positive change were:

building protective
factors,

controlling
ones anger,

building a sense
of neighborhood,

establishing
greater social responsibility.

The programs met
for a minimum of ten weeks with at least four hours of direct contact per week;
however, several of the programs lasted nine months or more.

Two pilot programs
were offered in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Mayors Teen Volunteer (MTV)
program was designed for selected middle-school youth who were trained to volunteer
for the City of Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department and various
community agencies. An evaluation of the program found that the youths
perceived competence relating to volunteer activities was significantly affected.
Also, parents found the program to be very beneficial, stating that their children
developed a stronger sense of responsibility and an increased sense of self-worth.

The second program
offered in Rock Hill was the Discovery Station program. This was an after-school
arts-based program for pre-teens. The children in the program were found to
have significantly greater scores on global self-worth and attitudes toward
the arts in comparison to children in a control group. The Chicago Park District
conducted the Teen Outdoor Adventure Recreation Program that was a 12-week experience
involving 24 male Hispanic gang members. As a result of participating in this
program, the youth showed significant improvement on ten protective factors
for which they were tested.

In addition, youth
in the Outdoor Adventure Program showed increases in volunteerism, educational
involvement, participation in job-training programs, and part-time work in comparison
to a control group of members of a different gang. The Maryland-National Capital
Park and Planning Commission conducted the Teen Connection Program and the Central
Teen Connection Program. Both of these programs involved middle and high school
students. The youth met on Friday and Saturday evenings to plan and participate
in various events and activities at a recreation center as well as at facilities
throughout the Washington, DC area.

For the first program,
staff evaluations revealed that 98% of the students participating in the program
remained in school and the youths respect for others increased greatly
in the form of being willing to listen to others and contribute to group activities.
Also, it was found in the second program that the youths ability to control
their anger increased significantly in comparison to a control group. Finally,
the youth in the second program developed greater social skills and a sense
of social responsibility in comparison to the control group.

Project Hangtime,
a program organized by the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, was an after-school
and evening program designed for youth ages 12-17. Compared to a control group,
youth in the program revealed a significant increase on four of ten protective
factors. A second offering of this program experienced some difficulty in conducting
the evaluation and, thus, no valid conclusions of impact could be drawn. The
Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Department conducted a very ambitious program
for Haitian teenagers called the Young Teen Heroes BBP Program.

This was a twelve-week
recreational program involving educational, recreational, and environmental
activities. In comparison to a control group of Haitian youth, the youth in
the program showed a significant increase in their sense of neighborhood as
well as their satisfaction with their neighborhood. Also, youth in the program
developed a greater ability to control their anger and they became more resilient
in six of seven areas in comparison to the control group.

Overall, the demonstration
programs in the five cities revealed very strong and positive results suggesting
that the Benefits Based Programming approach to recreation programming has a
significant impact on those individuals who participate in recreation programs.
And, as a result of participation in recreation programs, communities and society
as a whole will experience cost savings and an overall enhancement of residents
quality of life.